Home > All Articles > Teaching Through Trauma: Insights on Trauma-Informed Pedagogy in Online Learning from University of Michigan’s Leading Educators

Teaching Through Trauma: Insights on Trauma-Informed Pedagogy in Online Learning from University of Michigan’s Leading Educators

By:
Caroline Damren
Last Updated: September 24, 2024
Categories:

When the Covid-19 global pandemic began, so did a more frequent conversation about the collective trauma endured during this time, from healthcare to housing to education. As time has passed, specifically within the educational sphere, discussions about trauma-informed pedagogy, once commonplace in the scope of the pandemic, seem to have receded. However, understanding the impact of trauma in the classroom continues to be essential for student success.

What is trauma-informed pedagogy? Sarah Le Pichon and Steve Lundy, 2023, share that “…trauma-informed pedagogy does not seek to provide a “cure” for students’ personal or social histories of trauma. But a trauma-informed pedagogy…entails that there are measures educators can adopt that do not exacerbate and may even mitigate trauma in the course of learning”. The CDC states that “[a]dopting a trauma-informed approach is not accomplished through any single particular technique or checklist. It requires constant attention, caring awareness, sensitivity, and possibly a cultural change at an organizational level”.  

Trauma itself isn’t always tied to a dramatic event or story. Roger Fallot and Maxine Harris, commonly attributed with developing trauma-informed care principles in 2009, note that “Trauma is pervasive. National community-based surveys find that between 55 and 90% of us have experienced at least one traumatic event. Individuals report, on average, that they have experienced nearly five traumatic events in their lifetimes. The experience of trauma is simply not the rare exception we once considered it. It is part and parcel of our social reality.”

In considering how to conceptualize trauma-informed pedagogy in the current context of higher education, specifically online, we spoke with four education innovators at University of Michigan to gain insight into their expertise of how to best understand and practically apply this concept.

Who is Trauma-Informed Pedagogy For? 

Trauma-informed pedagogy is for everyone. Dr. Kyra Shahid, Director of the Trotter Multicultural Center, shares that it’s not only for everyone, but specifically for “those invested in education being a pathway towards healing, restoration, innovation and change”. She continues, “We’d be remiss to not pay attention to how global, national, and local trauma impacts the way students see the world who have seen vast changes in how we teach online.” Shahid feels that this work is relevant to the world we live in now and helps learners to avoid cognitive dissonance during a time when the world is vastly changing. Due to this, she feels that one must disrupt the “normal” and teach in a way that is responsive to what this generation has lived through, from racial terror to mass shootings.

Dr. Rebeccah Sokol, Assistant Professor of Social Work, adds that Trauma-Informed Pedagogy is beneficial to both her, as instructor, and to her students. It’s simply put, a “compassionate teaching style”.  She feels that open communication about her students and their lives is really beneficial & helps her students and her be more authentic in the process, which opens the door to being able to learn and receive information. Sokol shares that because of Trauma-Informed teaching practices, she comes to every classroom setting with the understanding that students are coming to the learning experience with a lot of lived experiences. She recognizes and honors their diversity of experience which enriches the depth of learning for the entire community.

“Trauma-informed pedagogy is a learner-centered approach that focuses on the needs of students first and foremost. Since the pandemic, I think we have seen an overall shift toward putting the experience of students first, even if it means making adjustments to expectations and timelines for course delivery”, says Dr. Rebecca Quintana, Director of Blended and Online Learning Design at The Center for Academic Innovation. She also shares that these ideas can also be applied to instructors. “Instructors need to give themselves grace as they seek to provide grace to their students. For instructors, it can be challenging to know how much visibility to give students into challenges they are facing personally, so it is important to thoughtfully navigate each situation on a case by case basis.”

Dr. M. Remi Yergeau, Associate Director of the Digital Studies Institute, notes that there are misconceptions, or bias, when it comes to trauma-informed pedagogy. They note that before one can do the work of learning, one does not need to resolve their trauma. “There is a common misconception, more of a bias, around trauma as well as disability…that people who are in the throws of lived experience, like people experiencing the traumatic impact of a life event, people who are going through a medical event, disabled folks…there is a presumption that you shouldn’t be here”. They add that there is a presumption that you need to get your life in order before you can do the work of learning, which is harmful and presumptuous that experience is not valuable.  Yergeau also feels that it’s important to remember that trauma isn’t just one thing; it can be in the community, a lived experience, social structure, identity, or even one’s body.  Shahid also shared that we need to reframe our thinking that trauma-informed pedagogy is therapy: “…[Trauma-Informed Pedagogy] is not focused on individual needs but on the collective needs of the entire classroom, instructor included”. Sokol shares it could be as simple as a mindset shift to “…come to teaching with understanding that people have a diversity of experiences and backgrounds and being mindful of that diversity when teaching and interacting with students.” Overall, they emphasize that a student’s life experience is valuable within the learning environment.

Trauma-Informed Pedagogy for Online Learning

When we asked Shahid about practical ways to incorporate Trauma-Informed Pedagogy into their online teaching, she suggested that instructors build in time to reflect and time to incorporate the body. “Don’t fall into the practice of education just being an exchange of intellectualism,” she warns. “[We need to acknowledge] the ways that our body is impacted by what we learn, how we learn, where we learn.” If content is particularly challenging–whether due to the nature of the topic or technical difficulty–students can benefit from pausing and allowing the tension of that stress to move through them. Online learning environments can feel somewhat disembodied, relegating student representation to posts on a discussion forum or a small box on a video meeting screen. Technology can engender cognitive dissonance, Shahid says, and establishing ways to remember students as part of a learning group—and as part of their bodies—can support learning. 

Shahid points out that most of human communication is actually nonverbal. “It’s not the words we use, it’s our body language, it’s the eye contact, it’s the energy that we share when we come into a room,” she explains. “It’s those things that really influence how we experience, what we learn, and what triggers in our body that we’re safe or we’re not safe.” Since online learning tends to be absent of many of these cues, this can be particularly challenging for learners with a history of trauma, or for anyone living through unpredictable times. At the same time, she says, technology can bridge gaps, and bring in forms of engagement less common in a classroom. Yergeau notes that instructors don’t have to limit their online teaching to tools like Zoom or Canvas. Platforms like Discord, for example, may have a steep learning curve, but can also allow for students to signal ways they would like to engage, and more layered conversation. No tool is perfect, and Yergeau suggests “pulling in students to do the critical work of assessing those technologies themselves.” They ask, “how are these technologies imagining their users?” Similarly, how are we as instructors imagining learners as we make decisions about how we teach?

While technology presents incredible opportunities for online teaching and learning, Shahid points out that educators aren’t always trained in how to fully utilize it in ways that are continuously accessible to students. Yergeau also notes that it is important to consider how the tech we use ultimately uses the data of our learners, with or without their consent.

Trauma-Informed Pedagogy and Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI)

The principles of trauma-informed teaching—for example caring awareness, transparency, and empowerment—can support all learners. They also provide a framework for instructors to be human too, sharing our pedagogical decisions with students so that they can be improved. Because of its focus on trustworthiness, collaboration, and voice, trauma-informed approaches can be the glue that supports diversity, equity, and inclusion not only in the classroom, but on campus as well. Shahid points out that trauma-informed pedagogy, DEI, and other forms of healing centered practices are interrelated. “For me, [trauma-informed pedagogy] is what allows us to apply the good work of DEI that we have been doing for so many years in ways that are responsive to the students we are working with in the moment.” Whether we are talking about DEI or trauma-informed pedagogy, Yergeau says, “we’re talking about ways of viewing and approaching the world.” They note that it can be easy to imagine how individual trauma intersects with disability, but that it can also intersect with class, intergenerational trauma, legacies of colonialism, racism, and war – the ways in which our country is structured around violence and disempowering folks. We can provide learning experiences that support people where they’re at, Yergeau says, but we can also come at it thinking in terms of providing learning experiences that support social and educational transformation.

Practical Tips

Looking for concrete ways to incorporate trauma-informed pedagogy into your online classroom? Check out these tips below, synthesized from our conversations with faculty.

  1. Environment: Think about the kind of learning environment you want to create.
  • If you have synchronous meetings, plan the way you kick off each session. Are there ways to cultivate an atmosphere that gets students feeling welcome and ready to learn? Some instructors make use of icebreakers, check-ins, Zoom surveys or chat prompts, or music.
  • If your course is asynchronous, are there regular announcements that can be sent, or can periodic introductory pages be embedded in a course site? These can be ways to create rich regular touch points that use clear expectations, reminders, or gifs to build a cohesive community that helps learners to orient themselves and prepare.
  • Work with class participants to develop a group agreement. Sometimes called community guidelines or ground rules, activities like this can make transparent expectations and requests of one another as a class.

2. Time: Slow down and take stock of the moment.

  • Build in time for the class to pause and reflect, such as mindful moments before and after engaging learning activities. This can help students to prepare, shift gears, or reflect and synthesize. 
  • When traumatic events or experiences occur in the world or lives of individuals it can be feel dissonant to go about business as usual. If you are aware of something that may be weighing on students’ minds or bodies, consider creating moments to shift outside of routine. This can mean journaling, an unplanned discussion, or taking the opportunity to connect what is going on with course content so students can see how what they are learning is relevant.

3. Bodies: teach to the whole person.

  • Think about ways to acknowledge how the body is impacted by how and what we learn. If you teach online, recall that sitting for long periods can cause physical discomfort or present challenges to concentrating. Consider taking breaks for movement, or incorporating the body into the learning process. If course content is emotionally difficult, movement can be an ally to work through the material and any tension it may cause in the body.
  • Consider cultivating a learning environment that normalizes rest and restoration rather than busyness and opportunity/information overload. This could look like a segment of the course schedule that doesn’t introduce new content or assignments so that learners can focus on wellness, or regular messages that go beyond content to support student wellbeing.

4. Engagement: include yourself and students in your pedagogy.

  • Let students know why you’ve made certain decisions about class assignments or structure, and the ways in which your teaching style supports you–your passion and values, and also your own wellbeing and boundaries. Students want us to support them, but they don’t want us to burn out.
  • Invite students to be a part of class design or making decisions regarding their assessment. This can provide a sense of control, fairness, inclusion, and importance. We can do as much as possible to plan for learner success and inclusion, but nothing takes the place of students’ determining their own learning. Tools like Gameful that integrate with Canvas or other Learning Management Systems can be an effective way to support learners in individualizing their learning and assessment.
  • Learning isn’t just a two-way street between students and teachers, but also among students themselves. Invite students to share from their own knowledge and experiences, and build in time and activities to help build connections among learners. This can be particularly important in online classes, where students can sometimes feel isolated or as if they are going through class materials alone. For example, there could be regular discussion prompts that get students talking to one another about life or hobbies, and not just course material. Some instructors hold weekly synchronous drop in office hours where students can chat with the instructor about anything, or find fellow students and connect with them. It can be helpful to let students know that there is always room for conversation, connection, and disagreement.

5. Flexibility: Build in a diversity of ways to participate.

  • Online learning can rely heavily on live or recorded lectures, quizzes, and discussion forums. This can feel predictable for students–in both good ways and bad. To create a variety of ways of engaging with material, some instructors layer in use of Discord or other tools. This can provide opportunities for students to go beyond what Zoom or Canvas allow in terms of communication and relationship building (think gifs, or threaded chats, or ease of movement between multiple concurrent video discussions). Other instructors encourage opportunities for video, audio, or image responses as alternatives to writing.
  • Not all technology is equally accessible. The burden of pointing this out can fall to students whose needs aren’t being met. Before that happens, some instructors engage students in analyzing and selecting options that work best for the group or individuals.
  • Create ways for students to signal how they want to interact if they choose. For example, do they want to be reached out to outside of class for study groups, or do they like communicating by email, text, or other apps?

Additional Resources

Attributions

Related Articles

Block M

Using Generative AI to make language more accessible
Use GenAI to remove jargon or break down complex terms so all learners can comprehend
A person holds a 360 degree camera in their hand

Extended Reality and Accessibility
Introducing Extended Reality (XR) Extended Reality (XR) allows learners to reach beyond the classroom into another setting through 360 videos and other simulations that can be…